Where Is My Mind?
by savagepierce
Summary: Damon and Katherine meet up at the local bar in Mystic Falls, and decide to make a bet on who can seduce the most people while they embark on a road trip, and if Damon wins, Katherine has leave Mystic Falls...forever. Note: Most Damon parts are written by my lovely friend Claudia, co-written fanfiction
1. Chapter 1

"Hello_ Damon_, come to keep me and this bottle of bourbon company?" She queries, a cat-like grin painted on her lips as she sips from a full to the brim bottle, thumb playing on her bottom lip as she eyes him coyly.

He glances over at with an intrigued look and despite himself, he can't resist the offer of a drink, even if it does mean spending time with her and her never ending games. "No, I think I'll just take the bourbon," he replies, swiping the bottle from her and taking a drink from it. "What are you doing here at the Grill anyway? Did you get bored of ripping out peoples' hearts and screwing them over?"

She pouts playfully as he swipes the bottle from her loose grip. "Damon, ever the gentleman." She chides, fingers working through chocolate curls to loosen them as she slides one leg over the other, swiveling in her stool to face him. "Now,_ now_, who says I can't do all of that from right here? For all you know,_ you're_ my next victim. Oh but wait…been there done that haven't we?" She teases, pointing a finger at him and deliberately taking the bottle back, pouted lips smacking after she swigs from the confines of the canister. "What about you Damon? Here to drown yourself in yet another night of _loneliness_?"

He takes another sip from his drink, shooting her an irritated look from over the rim of the glass. _"Only for you, Miss Katherine," _he intoned mockingly. He clenches his jaw, trying to suppress the urge to snap back a childish insult. "I'm not your toy anymore. You don't get to _'play' _with me." He swings down into the seat beside her, calling over the waiter to order his own drink. "Lonely? I'm not lonely. Look at all the people around me. I could go home with any girl in this bar."

She leaned towards him as he sat down, running a finger under his jaw and leaning in to whisper in his ear, her hot breath fanning over his ear, "You like it when I play with you Damon." She chuckled, pulling away with her finger running along her lip as she sipped from her own, pouring the contents into a glass. "Any girl in the bar huh? And I'm the one that gets all your attention? _Lucky me_." She grins, teeth grazing her bottom lip as she gauges him with her cat-like eyes.

He swallowed, gritting his teeth and forcing himself not to react to her teasing. Even after all these years, her touch could still leave him half-breathless, trailing electricity in its wake. "No," he growled, "I _don't. I hate you,_ remember?" Damon reached forward to down about half of his drink before allowing him to flick her eyes back towards her. "You _should_ feel lucky," he murmured, lifting his eyebrows with a mischievous air. "Lucky I have alcohol to keep me from ripping your pretty little head off and walking away right now."

"_Love, hate, such a fine line._" She purred, fingertip dragging along the forever exposed flesh of the indent of his collarbone before pulling away and mapping the circumference of her glass instead. "Damon it's not polite to tell lies, we both know you couldn't do it and that you wouldn't even _try_." She winks, sipping from her glass, enjoying the game between the two as her tongue sports a trail along her lips. "If you could have any girl in the bar, why are you_ wasting_ your time on me? I think it's because we both know I could do things to you in bed that all the teeny-boppers running around here couldn't even _dream_ of."

She breathes, the air between them electrified with tension before she shuts the gate down completely, "But nonetheless, a half-drunk sorority girl is an_ easy_ target, and maybe you've lost your game and thats all you can get these days. _Pity_ really if you ask me."

"I think you'll find there's actually a hundred mile wall when it comes to the hatred between you and I," he mused. He made a face at her, slapping away her hand and swivelling his body to face the bar, away from her treacherous fingers. "That never stopped you," he quipped, the glass clutched in his hand as he gestured towards her. "You'd be surprised how often I've dreamed of seeing you dead," smiling sweetly as he batted his eyelashes at her. "Well, I bet none of them get as excited as you do by whips and chains."

He narrowed his eyes, glaring at her with slitted shards of icy blue, "Right, because you're anything_ but_ easy, Miss Katherine. Just because I'm not trying get in _your _pants doesn't mean I've lost my game. In fact, I grow more charming every day."

"Not at all Damon, you just like being all closed off and _mysterious_." She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly the type of cards Damon dealt in each deck. His poker face was impenetrable to all but her. "Oh I can imagine, almost however many times you've dreamed of seeing me _naked_." She winked, her tongue clicking on her teeth in the 'k' sound of the word, she leaned into him, no more than inch seperating their faces for the most fleeting of seconds before she buried her lips on the rim of her glass, the alcohol, making a bit of a mark on her actions as shown by her actions just seconds ago. But she continues sipping, enjoying and reveling in the burn

She snorted at his remark, raising a dainty hand to hide a coquettish grin, "Oh is that so _Mr. Salvatore_? Well color me incorrect then, but I don't see you making headway with any of the girls in this bar. But then again, I couldn't really say it would count even if you _did_, I'm sure they're just as pathetic as you, watching you come to the bar_night after night_, leaving alone_ time and time_ again. It's like a bad movie on repeat. Lets _skip_ the ending and start a new chapter shall we?" Her grin lit up her features, she could sense a game coming up, one that she very much intended to win. "In other words, they're would be no proof that you hadn't _already_ fucked these girls, rendering the challenge a bit null and void. Though if they go crawling back to you…well thats just desperate on _their_ part." She taunted with a sly wink.

"I quite enjoy being the tall, dark and handsome mystery," he retorted, rolling his head back in irritation. "You might have been naked, but it always ended in me _staking _you," he sang, flashing her a taunting look with a bright smile laced with insincerity. His breath caught in his throat as she closed the gap between them and his pulse jumped a little, in spite of his restraint. He inched his seat away from her purposefully, turning to shoot her a glare. Damon glanced down at his own drink, finding it disappointingly empty and called the waiter over for another round of shots. He downed two in quick succession before tilting his head towards Katherine again.

"That's because I have no interest in doing so right at this moment. Oh, please, don't be jealous that I'd give them my attention and not you. I leave this bar with a new girl every night, sometimes with two. Mystic Falls is always full of new people and you can be sure whatever attractive girl appears, they'll be in my bed by the next day." He let a smirk play over his face, seeing the challenge in her eyes. "The same could be said for you, always coming to bother Stefan and I at the boarding house like a bad smell that won't go away. What happened to all your supposed boy toys? Did they get bored of you, too? You're probably used to being all alone by now, always running away from everything and everyone." Damon took a sip of his drink, eying her as he felt the alcohol burn down his throat. "We can line them up and hold a survey if you want. The challenge is only null and void if you're too scared to play, Katherine. The only desperation _I _see is coming from you. Or the men you try and lure into your bed with your demonic claws."

"Oooh _kinky_." She teases, her eyes glowing as her teeth brush along her bottom lip and she sits back from Damon, her demeanor completely relaxed as she crosses her legs. "Oh thats cute, but you confuse _desperation_ for_attraction_." She added with a snarky attitude, rolling her eyes at his comment. "You like my little visits Damon, don't lie." Though his comment about her being alone, stung her on some deeper level, she didn't let it show, apart from her jaw clenching and reaching out for her own shot, downing it quickly before turning back to him, casting out, "You're one to talk about being alone." She said darkly before changing the topic back to lighter areas.

"So is it just me or am I sensing a challenge here? Please tell me yes, you know how much I like _games,_ Damon."

He sighed, flicking his eyes upwards, asking whatever nonexistent entity was up there to lend him the strength not to strangle her right there. Of course, she'd probably assume it was some kind of _kink _if he tried. "Not at all. There isn't a single woman in here who wouldn't want me. _I'm _the one that gets to pick and choose," he replied smoothly, taking a nonchalant sip from his drink. Damon let out a chuckle of amusement at her reply and he could see he had managed to irritate her. "Oh, but I _like _being alone, Katherine. That's the difference between you and I. I drink alone because I want to. You desperately seek the attention of people who could care less if you live or die." He flashed her a brilliant smile before reaching for another shot.

"Your _life _is one eternal game, Katherine," he said dryly. "You just want everyone to chase you, but the real game is that you never _stop _running." His words came out a lot more bitter than he had expected, shocking even himself. He downed the entire shot to stop himself from saying any more, hiding his surprise with a blank look. "Alright, Katherine. Let's play. If you're so sure about your own abilities, than I bet you could seduce more women than you can men in an entire day."

Katherine listens to all of Damon's cruel jabs, it was funny to her almost, it was as if he was projecting all of his issues with his own identity unto her. She was far from the person she used to be, Damon was just too foolish to see that, not that it mattered. She kinked her brow at him and sharply turned her jaw in his direction. "You're a fool Damon Salvatore, and let me just say, that you know_ nothing_ about me. Not anymore." Her voice dropped to a sinister note on the last word, as she leaned in to him, her eyes glazed with some ambiguity that even he couldn't discern before she turned away.

"Ha, I bet you'd _love t_o see that now wouldn't you Damon? But I won't take your _prey_ from you. I prefer men, reminds me how wrong I was for ever getting in bed with you." She smirked. "But of course, we can't do this little game here in Mystic now can we? Who knows how many women you've already compelled." She winked, downing another shot.

Damon let out a snort, shaking his head slightly. How typical of Katherine. His lips curled to one side in a sardonic smirk. Of course she would claim that, she was after all, the untouchable Katerina Petrova. Evil slut vampire who loved only herself, but more than that, the ruthless survivor who did whatever she had to ensure she got what she wanted, even if it meant lasting an eternity with no one by her side. Damon didn't know if he pitied her or sympathized with her. The truth of _that _revelation, was one he would much rather have found at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. "I never knew anything about you, Katherine. If I had, I wouldn't have wasted over a century trying to bring back to life a heartless bitch who couldn't have cared less," he said matter-of-factly, attempting to keep his tone as neutral and blase as possible.

He blinked at her slowly, wrinkling his nose in annoyance. "If we're going to talk out prey, then you'd be the black widow spider. How many of the men you sleep with even make it to the morning?" Rolling his head back with an exasperated sound he tossed her an unamused look from the corner of his eye. "I don't need to _compel _the people I'm with, unlike you. There are no mind games necessary with me," he muttered. "Fine. You want a challenge? Then we'll take a road trip, get out of town for a while, see which of us really is the master of seduction here," he said with a smug smile, lowering his voice in mockery.

"The Black Widow spider? You sure like to_ fantasize_ about what my life between the sheets is like Damon. Bit sad if you ask me." She shrugs, her gaze dropping purposefully from his to make him light up with indignation. Before he could utter another word, she slipped off her barstool, the fleeting creeping of her lips towards the center of facial structure signifying her answer to his request. She gave him a backwards glance as she made her way out the door towards her vehicle, as if to silently _ask, are you coming?_ It was a simple question, but one that conveyed, _if you don't move now, we're done here, and god knows when I'll be back_. It was evidence in itself that Damon moved instantly, he still loved her, she knew that, and she knew that he had a hard time hating her as much as he had a hard time loving her. It was a constantly fluctuating between the polar opposite emotions, though when you really looked at it, they were one in the same.

Her rear slid easily on to the hood of her car, one leg carefully lifting and folding over her other limb, her lips pursed as she waited for Damon to make his reveal, in what she was sure would be a cloud of annoyed smoke. It was his idea to take a road trip, she was just in it because she was bored and wanted to make him squirm. She rested against her elbows, her body language and pose seductive, "About _time_ Damon. So whose driving? If _you_are, we're not spending the entire trip listening to some shitty pseudo-depressing soft rock mix." She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she gracefully slid off the hood of her own vehicle, fingertips trailing the space she'd just departed, her body language oozing sensuality, she leaned towards him, lips moving dangerously close to his bottom one, "_Game on Damon Salvatore_."

He narrowed his eyes at her, lips curling into a smirk laced with sarcasm, "I don't have to _fantasize. _I've _been _there, remember?" Succumbing to the childish urge to make a face at her, he wrinkled his nose at her before flicking his head away. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her leave the bar, hips moving with that permanent seductive swing. Anything he had ever done with Katherine had ended only in pain - be it walking into one of her ridiculous plans or watching her tear his bleeding heart into little shreds. His recklessness was something he couldn't help, and her allure he had never been able to resist. Wherever she went, he would always chase her. Willingly or not, Damon found himself standing up and following her out the bar. Damon Salvatore had never _wanted _safe and painless, he had once loved so much it had consumed him, but the danger and the adventure was still there - the passion, even, survived in what he now preferred to call 'hatred'.

He sighed, folding his arms over her chest as he squinted at Katherine longed across his car like she was in some kind of photo shoot. "It's not pseudo-depressing," he muttered. "I'm driving. You drive like a maniac." Damon flicked his eyes upwards, searching for some kind of higher entity that would give him the patience not to reach over and snap her neck. Katherine could probably seduce the Pope, if she wanted to, and while he would have loved to think he was immune by now, to her stupid tricks and batted eyelashes, he wasn't. Every subtle movement and flirtatious smile was a reminder of the woman he had once fallen in love with in 1864. But those looks and smiles had never been reserved for him, he had just been a plaything to pass her time while she waited for the real prize - _Stefan. _With that thought in mind, and the only desire to win whatever twisted game they were playing now, he faced her down with a steely gaze. Cerulean eyes turned to ice as he watched her close the gap between their faces. "It's going to make my entire year - my entire decade, even - seeing the look on your face when you lose." Then with a sharp turn, he flung open the car door and took his seat at the wheel. "So, where the hell are we headed?"


	2. Chapter 2

She watched as his gaze rang deeply into her own, "Thats cute Damon, but I know you want, and deep down you know it too." She chuckled, swinging into the passenger's side of the car. Her eyes batting playfully at him, just liking to see the flicker of aggravation echoing across his handsome features as she got under his skin. She ran her fingers through her hair, checking her appearance in the rear view mirror as she crossed her legs and rested her arm on the windowsill of the car. "Hmm…fuck if I know. Go somewhere _entertaining_. Miami? New York?" She shrugged, giving him the choice of location, it honestly didn't matter to her, regardless of where they went.

Drumming his fingers against the wheel he considered the various options for their twisted little adventure. There were really no boundaries and no rules to where they could go or what they could do. Money was not a problem with compulsion and Damon had a feeling they would have made excellent partners in crime running a con if they really had to. From the outskirts of Virginia they could head straight up to New York and arrive at the big apple in a couple of hours or drive down to Miami in the state of sunshine and get there in a few more. Damon flicked his eyes upwards for a moment, "Miami, it is. Bikinis and beaches, what more could a guy want?"

Not to mention, with the way they both drove, they wouldn't take nearly the amount of time humans took to arrive to their destination. "But what do you say we make this game a little more interesting Damon?" She chuckled, turning to face him in her seat as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "Lets make a bet. And since I'm feeling generous, I'll let you lay out your terms first, if you win, dot dot dot." She smirked.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, trying to detect any kind of suspicious motive but found nothing. Katherine, with her devious smirk and flirtatious air, had always been impossible to read. He couldn't have tried to uncover whatever unscrupulous plans she had in that brain of hers even if he tried. She could act like she was always two steps ahead of him all she wanted, he wasn't the lovesick fool he had been before and he would match her every step of the way. And since he had been given the opportunity, he fully intended to make the most of his terms of victory. "I'm game if you are," he replied. "Alright, I'll start. _One,_ no use of compulsion on any of our chosen targets. _Two,_ the loser will concede to all of the winner's terms, that is, when I win you will do what we've agreed to do and you won't be a sore loser." He tossed her an expectant look before taking a pause. He had one chance to ask for anything he wanted from Katherine, and despite everything that had been said and done, there was still an irrational desire to ask for her to stay with him and let him be with her. It fought against all reason and logic in his mind and it shocked him how much his resolve had weakened. No, no he wouldn't do that, he wouldn't turn back into that idiot who had given up everything he had, who had turned away his own brother for the woman he had believed he loved. His pathos had made him hate himself and the entire world for letting her die, but knowing Katherine had only ever wanted Stefan made this easier. This was his way of protecting himself and protecting Stefan. He would _not _be the one who fell in love blindly and recklessly anymore, that Damon was dead. The walls that towered over his heart had strengthened with her absence, and he would never let himself be that vulnerable, that _weak _around her ever again.

Katherine sidled comfortably into her seat, glad that at least the location of their journey wasn't going to be an object of debate, as she was sure the trip as a whole would be ripe with multiple opportunities for them to be at one another's throat. "Blah blah blah, as if i need compulsion Damon, fine." She added curtly, those standards were fair, she watched his jaw clench the tiniest movements. Things she noticed that no one else possibly could, it was inane, but Katherine knew Damon Salvatore in and out, she knew every aspect of him, regardless of whether he wanted to believe that or not.

Damon turned away to stare directly ahead into the road, his heel pressing down against the accelerator. "And _three, _if - no, _when _I win, you will leave me alone and leave Stefan alone and never come back to Mystic Falls again."

His request wasn't unexpected, but deep down, very deep down, she still felt a painful jibe in her gut. It still hurt, which unnerved her, but she didn't let it show, she kept her face hard and her gaze averted from his. "Fine." She said simply, it didn't need more accentuation than that. That idealistic feeling she'd just had confused her, it took her off guard, she'd known Damon was going to ask for that, and nonetheless it had hurt her on an emotional level she wasn't aware she was even connected to anymore. It resonated through out her body, but she qualmed it, stifled it down, shut it off. There were things about Damon, that she wasn't ready to admit to herself yet, that she still loved him, that she always would, that as much as she hated him, she'd never completely let go of him. But those were aspects of herself that were left in a torrential downpour, shoved into the darkest parts of her mind, meant to never resurface. "And when _I_ win…" She began, her voice starting off just the slightest bit unsteady before she set herself back on track, her smirk deliciously in tow as her brow lifted, her eye-line turning to his sharp profile.

"It's to be _determined_." Her smile brightened, ambiguity dancing in her hazel, knowing that the idea of him being in the dark, would irk him, even if he didn't show it. The truth was that Katherine wasn't sure quite what she wanted yet from Damon, though she had some seeds of ideas in the back of her mind. Her smile faltered slightly at what a few entailed, all of this trip seeming to result in them parting ways for good, though when you lived an eternity, nothing was ever permanent.

But what disturbed her, was the encroaching sadness at losing him for good.


	3. Chapter 3

Damon turned his head away, a small, bitter smile curving his lips. "You might not have compelled me," he said softly, finally able to admit to the truth he had been so unwilling to face, "But you compelled Stefan. _It was never real for him_." Part of him wanted to hurt her, to have her know Stefan's love was always forced, in part, by her compulsion. But mostly, it was just his own bitter honesty. He was so angry with Katherine for being able to induce these feelings of jealousy in him, but more than that, he was angry at himself, for allowing them to still exist and fester in his mind after so long. It infuriated him, that he could look at Katherine's smirk that seemed to always be hiding a secret he would never know, and imagine her dancing and laughing with Stefan, the two of them looking like they had never been happier or more in love. He had never been enough to make her as happy as she was with him. He shook his head with a slight sigh, emptying his mind of these thoughts and distracting himself instead, with the satisfaction he would get out of winning their game.

Katherine listened to Damon's words, she could see straight through him, he was attempting to hurt her, he wanted to get under the exterior that she had built up around herself, he wanted her to feel even an inkling of what she'd put him through. But Katherine had been through worse, and she'd built a steel wall of armor around her. Keen on staying alone all this time, the easier it was for survival. "_Really_ Damon? We're resorting to petty jabs now? You must be running out of ammo. Sad, you used to be _mildly_ entertaining." Her lips twitched in sardonic mirth, solidly annoyed by him already and the trip had barely begun. Damon was a fool if he truly expected her to believe that his love for her, that his pining was entirely done away with. Things of that caliber, of that nature were infallible, permanent, he wouldn't have agreed to the bet in the first place if he truly hated her as much as he claimed. The urge to win something against her, to prove that he could, to prove something to _her_, was all the evidence she needed to know she still held claim over his heart.

If Damon excelled at anything in his life, it would be his almost perfect control. Control on his bloodlust, on his emotions and on his life - the power it gave him, that he had learned to hold, over himself and those around him had been intoxicating, once. For all of his human life he had been manipulated, first by his father and then Katherine and finally, Stefan, before becoming the bloodsucking creature he was now. If there was one final weapon he had against Katherine, it was the control he had over his feelings for her. The suppression of his so-called love, or rather, infatuation, he had for her that would not disappear no matter how hard he tried, was all he had left. His defences were useless now, abandoned to blind honesty and the idiotic outpour of emotions last time he had seen her. But he could lie, he could still deceive and he could still pretend. All he had to do was convince himself first.. "Then it must shock you to know my life does not revolve around your entertainment," he said lightly. He would have done anything, given anything, to stop this addiction - but he couldn't, he didn't know how - and until he figured that out, this game was his one chance to make sure she would be out of his life forever.

Peering out of the corner of his eye at her he rolled his head to the side in exasperation. It was typical of her to keep all her cards to herself, always taunting him with her unattainable mysteries. "You say that now but you'll be asking me to sell you my soul by the end of this," he muttered, arching his eyebrows as he stared straight ahead at the road. He reached forward to fiddle with the radio buttons until he found a station he liked, an attempt to distract him from these disconcerting thoughts. Katherine darted forward to change the station and he slapped her hand away with a smirk. "Driver gets to pick the music," he replied smugly. As they came to a red light and he pulled the car to a stop to wait, he opened up the glovebox and began rifling through an assortment of objects until he came upon what he had been looking for. "O negative," he murmured triumphantly, sticking the straw into the side of the blood bad and taking a lengthy sip. "And none for you," he said teasingly, moving his arm up to bar her from trying to steal the bag from him, the childish gratification of having something Katherine did not making him smile.

Her lips pursed in a heat shape as she watched him from her peripherals. "Hmm, possibly, maybe I just like the idea of making you _wait_. Torturing you with what I could ask of you. The possibilities are _endless._" A peal of laughter fell from her lips, hearing a song in discordance with what she preferred, she moved to change it, until Damon slapped her hand away. "Do that again and you'll lose an eye. And they're such_ beautiful_ eyes." She coos, words sizzling with an inferiority complex. His little antics with the blood bag barely phased her, he was being childish, "What are we,_ five_? And I prefer my drinks straight from the source, but I understand someone like_ you_might lose sleep over it. Precious little _Elena_ wouldn't like it very much if you were out slaughtering innocents." Her voice was sing-song and pin-pointing the sore spots of his life, chiming mockery.

When he was done, he tossed the bag into the back of the car carelessly. It wasn't his car after all, and she'd probably compelled it off a poor car salesman anyway. It wasn't like it would be hard to pick up expensive cars along the way to Miami and he had a feeling he and Katherine would make an impressive criminal duo if the opportunity arose. They'd been driving for roughly three hours now, during which they had both successfully resisted the urge to strangle the other when they began a competition to see how quickly they could change the station to their preferred music. Between their vampire speed and strength they had ended up breaking the entire system and had had to be content with silence. Then, getting bored of the silence Damon had struck up an argument with her that had turned into a glaring match. Finally, after having to swerve off the road to avoid an oncoming oil tanker and a near death explosion, they both decided - in agreement for the first time in several hours - to stop somewhere for some food and a public space full of people which would prevent them from killing one another.

Damon gritted his teeth at the sound of her laughter, the way it tumbled from her lips like music infuriated him to no end. How was it possible that it could still make his heart beat just that little bit faster, or make his lips twitch in the urge to smile, after an eternity of convincing himself he hated her? "Like I said before," he muttered._ "Selling my soul to the devil…" _For a split second, he wondered if this had been a bad idea all along, he hadn't been particularly careful when he had agreed to the bet. He exhaled, pursing his lips with an annoyed look, it was too late to back out now anyway. He would never go back on his word, especially not with Katherine. "And you'll lose a hand." He shot her an unimpressed look with arched brows, taunting her with an indulgent smirk. Tensing his jaw at the mention of Elena, flashes of arguments they'd had in the past crossing his mind and making his lips tip downwards into a small frown. "Elena worries too much about who I do or don't kill. But as always, I do whatever I want to. I don't have the luxury of leaving a trail of bodies behind me in Mystic Falls because I _live _there."

The remainder of the drive ended the only way that any allotted amount of time with Damon and Katherine stuck together in a confined space could end, in total chaos. The stereo system busted left Katherine glowering and fuming so harshly she thought she might overheat the engine alone with the wrath simmering within. "You're buying me a new one." She snarled, her pout one that could rival a seven-year-olds. He was such an arrogant asshole. His ego was implorable and through the roof, she almost couldn't breath for the size of it. Part of her longed for the Damon of the past, though he bored her in a way this one never could. Regardless of how infuriating he was, he kept her on her toes, something of a rarity in this day and age.

If there was any kind of way to appropriately describe the relationship between Damon and Katherine, a ticking time bomb would have just about done it. Katherine Pierce was a godforsaken bitch, an evil, manipulative vampire slut, a horrible excuse for a human being and fifty other juvenile insults Damon didn't have the time to hurl at her. "Dream on, Katherine," he replied with a wide grin, when she had demanded he buy her a new stereo. It delighted him that the system had finally broken, and that it caused her annoyance was a small victory. He spent the rest of the trip with a self-satisfied smirk stretched across his lips, humming for the most part, melodies of the songs that would have been playing from the speakers.

The first bar they came to appeared mostly empty from the outside and 'Hal's Bar' was as average a name as you could find. Still, Damon wasn't going to turn down the chance for food and bourbon so he pulled into the parking lot and slid out of the car without a backwards glance. It was eerily quiet as soon as he stepped through the door, the silence ringing in the emptiness of the entire room. There were no waiters and no bartenders and no patrons - it was entirely devoid of people. Damon glanced back at Katherine as she stepped in behind him, shooting her a look with raised eyebrows.

"Really? This is where you choose to take me? It's no wonder you never got a _second date._" She grinned in a teasing snark, "I would have expected you to have more class _Damon_, but that was a mistake of my own." She rolled her eyes, door opening as a high heeled black boot took the initiative of offering her slender body a footing to the pavement. Though in an instant her instincts brought her into a surreal awareness, a perceived notion of danger amidst her surroundings.

Letting out an exasperated groan at her jibe, he flicked his eyes upwards before back at her with clear irritation. "If I wanted to take you out on a date, I wouldn't have made multiple threats on your life on the way here and attempted to kill you when you finished off the last of my blood bag," he scoffed with mock patience, as if talking to a small child. "You're one to talk about_ class,_ Katherine. What happened to the days of corsets and petticoats?" He trailed his eyes up her revealing shirt, the tight skinny jeans and the leather jacket that left nothing to the imagination. Damon was well aware of the power his eyes had to make a woman feel entirely exposed under his gaze and though it had little to no effect on Katherine, the indignant look she shot him made him smile. "Besides, this isn't a date, it's a _bet,_" he quipped. "If it's a date you want, then maybe you can wish_ real_ hard you win this game so you can force me to go on one with you."

The next few moments happened almost in slow motion, as he would have imagined an action sequence in a movie. Katherine's eyes widened at just the tiniest of fractions and Damon moved, on complete instinct, dropping to the ground into a crouch as he heard a bullet whistle past over his head. It slammed into the wall ahead of him, followed by a round of more bullets, embedding themselves into the wood.

"Put your hands up and turn to face the bar slowly," a rough voice growled out with a deep Southern twang. _Great,_they were being held hostage by some hillbillies with shotguns. Damon looked over at Katherine, unable to hide the smirk that flashed across his face, his eyes gleaming with mischief. He stood up, slowly, as he was directed and turned with a lazy smile to face his attacker. "_I wouldn't do that if I were you,_" he sang. A gun went off, the bullet flying past him as he sidestepped it easily. "Where're all the workers?" The man grunted, jerking his head to the back, flanked by two burly men, probably his lackies. "Out back, we've got 'em tied up. Scared away the rest of the people. 'S a goddamn robbery, you_ idiot_." Damon blinked, nodding placatingly at them, hands facing palm up in understanding. "I see," he murmured. "This is an awful shame, though. You see, my friend over there and I came to get a drink or two." A devilish smirk and a glint in his eye, "And we're feeling _very_ thirsty…"

She dropped to the ground in less than a second, realizing that they were getting shot at. "_What the fuck_?" She hissed, seething with anger immediately, pent up aggression from the car ride spilling over, she could see Damon's feet shuffling from beneath the car, watching the scene play out with his chiding remarks and chastisement. _Oh good lord Damon, you always have to put on a show don't you?_ She shouted inwardly, though the moment the last words left his lips she pounced, in no mood to exchange pleasantries, she ripped into the supple carteroid artery, the veins spilling scarlet in her mouth, her knee pressing dangerously hard on his spinal column as she brought him to the ground, not ceasing in her motions whatsoever as the true predatory nature of herself took control, drinking endlessly from the male until he was drained.

He couldn't help it as he tilted his head in silent admiration as he watched Katherine attack. He might have no love left in his heart for her, but he could admire the arch of her neck, the flash of dark curls and sharp fangs, combined with a predatory, feline grace, elegant even with the blood and ripping flesh. The thickening veins around his face and the thirst sharpening everything around him was urging him to satisfy his own increasing bloodlust. He snatched out to grab the nearest body, hand flipping and snapping the neck in one move, the vertebrates cracking as they shattered. His fangs slid from his gums and sliced through flesh straight to blood. It burst through onto his tongue, and Damon latched on and drank, indulging his thirst and he yielded control to his animalistic cravings. His hands crushed bones as he flung the empty, drained body away, lunging forward to find his next prey. Crimson trickling down his throat and staining his chin, his veins pulsing around his eyes as the blood he had consumed surging through his veins like pure adrenaline. Damon bit down once more, this time in the arm, the guttural scream of his victim tearing into the air. Annoyed, he slashed a hand through the chest, snapping ribs and severing organs and snatched out the heart, tossing it away in disgust. Razor sharp teeth punctured clean holes in skin once more and blood poured down his throat.

Katherine drove with a fury into the thick pulsation point of the beefy male she was currently latched onto her, the depth of her fangs into the thick mound of flesh far enough to puncture his trachea. Her hunger was non-withstanding, implorable, and she had no definition or idea of where Damon Salvatore was or what he was doing, she couldn't care less at the current, the only thing on her mind was how she was going to satiate her hunger. Her fingers flexed, her nails deft and sharpened, they wove down the male's front until they hit the soft place just below his sternum, she wasted no time in plowing into the abdominal cavity, collapsing lungs, tearing veins, ripping tissues, and destroying the masterpiece of a body as she clasped the still beating heart and tore it from it's safety net of a rib cage. Still drinking heartily from his neck, she enjoyed the sounds of dying groans from the male's throat as his entire body slackened. She dropped him to the ground and kicked his body to the side, raising the venal cava to her lips, supple, tinged red as she sipped from it, depleting it of all oxygen and plasma like a juicebox before throwing it gregariously to the side.

She kicked his lifeless corpse to the side, snapping his spine for good measure with her boot before staring at his comrades that weren't being sucked dry by Damon.

"Whose next?" She giggled, a sadistic, unwavering decibel. "Awe it's not polite to keep a _lady_ waiting." Drops of ruby slunk to the ground from her jawline, a macabre mask around her stained mouth as she edged towards the male nearest to her, wasting no time in pinning him with a bone-crunching splint to the wall, and taking her next meal by force.

She turned on her heel, the blood lust exonerating her and clouding all sense of judgement, she watched Damon with a carefully calculated look. Eying him, his built physique, his muscular tenor rippling from beneath the leather of his clothing, his jeans tightening in all the right places, Katherine watching him with a lecherous and different form of lust building in her from the depths of toned stomach, coiling and uncoiling, spiraling upwards and threatening to pull her under, her eyes still dark, the hazel masked by webs of red as she slowly approached. Some hidden magnetism willing her towards him that she was far from aware of, but the way the inner predator within him was in full effect creating a stirring within her that far from repelling her, drew her in.

The moment the carcass hit the ground, Katherine herself lurched, knocking Damon with all her force into the abrasive brick wall, her body lean and perfect flush against his, outlines molded, and everything between them singing tension, and smokey heat, her breath hot on his neck, scorching trail marks, a dark and sinister tease, her lower exterior wading into dangerous territory against his. The feline nature and predator within seeping to the surface, fully exposed and carnivorous her hand reached out clamping tightly to his jaw, squeezing him slightly and jerking him in a near volatile fashion to her face, eyes invigoration, torturous as her eerie and harrowing gaze dug into his foggy blue.

The air left his chest a in rush as his back was crushed against the wall Katherine threw him against, his falling limp for a moment before tensing as he felt her crush her body against his. Hypnotised by her, the sense of predatory danger and burning lust blazing from her touch, he stood silently in his rapture of her, feeling her slim fingers close around his chin and luring him towards her as if he were prey. His lips pulled back over his teeth, widening slightly, an instinct to insatiable hunger masquerading as fangs still elongated, Katherine felt an overwhelming need to get inside of Damon Salvatore and tear him apart, to thrill him to no end and leave him as nothing, eviscerate both of them, leaving behind two trembling masses, the broad place of her tongue dragged slowly across the extended pearly white, the daggers of his mouth, tasting the remnants of blood and venom, the satiation of their relationship embodied in the weapons of his body. Breath catching in his throat as she neared him, her tongue sliding over his teeth, licking away the traces of crimson from his fingers, dexterous and wanting traversed through his hair, tugging harshly at him, pressing up against him, but just as quickly as it had started Katherine was gone, far from him, near the car once more, slowly breathing, coming to from her minor lapse in sanity, as she justified it to herself, she mopped up the last of her victim from her lips, clearing the macabre away as she slunk back into the passenger's seat, giving both she and Damon a decent amount of time to reset, so they could both pretend that the fleeting moment had never so much as dared to pass between them. His eyes widened, transfixed by the feeling of her tongue slicked over his fangs and he wondered if it were possible to be any more aroused by this. As quickly as she had made her attack though, she retreated, disappearing out the door, leaving only the scent of blood and musky perfume behind.

He drew his tongue over his teeth, now clean of any blood, glistening white and receding back into his jaws. Confused and still partly entranced by the invisible magnetism that had ensnared him, he strode numbly out of the bar, opening the car of the door with mechanical precision before slamming it sharply closed.

He glanced around at the carnage that lay before both him and Katherine, a triumphant smirk dancing on his lips. "Well, at least I'm not hungry anymore." He jerked his head towards the bar with a sudden mischievous look in his eye. "We came for some drinks so we might as well steal some before we leave." He skirted around the counter of the bar, slipping in through the employee's entrance and grabbing several bottles of bourbon, vodka and tequila before tossing a few of them to Katherine. He didn't bother with glasses, knowing they'd be sharing from the same drinks anyway. Damon led the way out of the bar, unscrewing one of the bottles and tipping it down his throat before he even arrived at the car. Once he had slid into the driver's seat he tossed the rest of the alcohol in the back seat, turning the ignition on and lifting his bourbon towards Katherine in a toast. "May the best man win."

Once he arrived back in the car, she felt internally grateful for his alcoholic needs, "_Sometimes_, I like the way you think." She smirked, raising the bottle to her lips and drinking the tequila like water, attempting to wash away the taste of the moment that had transpired. Not wanting the linger of the taste of his fang, his mouth in hers. She needed to burn it away with the harshness of alcohol. She didn't put her bottle down unlike him as he started up the car once more. "Don't worry Damon, she will."

He slid the key into the ignition with slightly more force than necessary, his lips pulling into a scowl almost as soon as Katherine began talking again. The lingering frustration making it hard to think and process what had occurred only moments ago. Reaching to grab one of the bottles he had stolen from the bar he lifted it to his lips, letting the alcohol flow down his throat and drown out his bewilderment. He tipped it back, downing at least a third of the bottle before setting it down to start up the engine, his foot sliding against the pedal as he pulled out of the parking lot with a sharp turn. He let a smirk slip over his face, laced with bitter amusement. Katherine would forever be teasing and taunting him and gaining the upper hand. There was nothing stopping her from winning their little bet either. But if he did, the promise of never seeing her again was too sweet, too tempting not to have him leaping at the chance of victory.

The curvature of her brow as it raised above a hazel hue stated everything that she'd been thinking in that moment, veering off the pavement that surrounded the bar, "So where to_ Salvatore?_ I know you frequent brothels, but I'd rather stay clear of STD ridden joints, the blood isn't nearly as sweet."


	4. Chapter 4

Their journey remained relatively quiet, and with no music to distract them they slipped into comfortable silence as the sun set behind them, bleeding the sky into vibrant red and then fading into violet. Soon, it was midnight blue painted across the sky, the cover of darkness settling over the horizon, embedded with glinting stars. Damon chanced a look over at Katherine, his eyes flicking towards her from beneath his eyelashes. He had to remind himself, and not for the first time since seeing her again, that this was the same Katherine who had broken his heart because seeing her beside him, her features cast with the soft glow of starlight, her dark curls cascading over her shoulder - she was still the same breathtakingly beautiful woman who had stolen his heart back then and made him chase her for almost a century and a half to get it back. Only, he'd never been able to catch her. Instead, he'd burned himself out in the attempt, only to realise she'd been alive all along and she'd never needed him like he needed her.

"I was thinking of crashing for the night. Your wittiness has exhausted me for the day, I'll need a good night's sleep to be able to put up with you for another twenty-four hours." His tone was sardonic, the words rolling off his tongue in his usual low drawl. He waited for Katherine to argue, to demand they do something else and simply shrugged when she had no disagreement. The motel they arrived at, the blinking neon sign directing him towards a small cluster of buildings not far from the main road, was not shabby for one that lay just off route fifty-four. It wasn't ideal but there wouldn't be any four or five star hotels for miles around this area, and for tonight, at least, this would do. Damon lipped out of the car, shutting the door behind him before striding over to the reception, not checking to see if Katherine was following behind but hearing her side of the door close right after his.

Sitting in the passenger's seat of the car after she'd finally deterred herself from further acts of vandalism she crossed her arms and sank back against the seat, no words exchanged, just the dull timbre of deafening silence as Damon drove them to some god awful motel. It figured he would pick a place with no class. She imagined several truck stop murders taking place in its parking lot. "Whatever." She casted out darkly, surly, moody even as she grabbed her bag and followed after him in the hideously tacky lobby.

Sauntering in through the entrance and making his way up to the counter he shot the woman there a charming smile. "Two bedrooms for an overnight stay." The woman tilted her head curiously, shooting him and then Katherine a look, "Two? You sure you're not looking for one?" Damon raised his eyebrows with an insistent look, nodding his head impatiently. "Alright, if you say so," the woman said, lifting her shoulders nonchalantly. She bent to stare at a screen, clicking her mouse a few times and typing at her keyboard before glancing up with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, it looks like all the single rooms are booked out. We've only got one with a double bed." Exhaling in exasperation, Damon glanced over at Katherine with a look of annoyance, before flicking his eyes upwards and back over at the woman. "Fine. We'll take it. Looks like we don't have much of a choice." The woman beamed at him, handing over a key in exchange for Damon's credit card, looking extremely pleased with herself at the idea of the two spending the night in the same room. "Have a nice night, lovebirds! Don't let your little spat get in the way of having some fun in the sheets!"

Her eyes roved over an ugly painting above the even uglier receptionist's head of a beaver or some other animal sitting on the wayside of a stream. Sighing, she tapped her foot and waited for Damon to sort out the room, though she couldn't help piping up at the assumption that there was only one bedroom. "There must be-" She was silenced by Damon's bravado, and shot daggers at the back of his head.

Damon's jaw dropped open at that and it took him some effort to clamp it shut at the woman's audacity as he shot Katherine another amused look. He clamped his lips together, giving the woman one last smile. "Will do!" he sang sarcastically before placing his hand on Katherine's back and steering her out of the room before she could do something drastic like rip the woman's head off. "_Fine_." She hissed, feeling his hand on the small of her back, steering her away from the pathetic woman at the desk, probably a good thing as Katherine was picturing her blood spurting onto the very image she'd been eyeing earlier. "I don't need a babysitter _thanks_."

Opening up the door to their room, Damon flopped down in the closest chair he could find. "So… Do you want to take a shower first or should I?" he wondered aloud, propping his legs up on the coffee table across from him with a casual smirk. "Also, I refuse to sleep on the ground so I'm claiming the right side of the bed. You can deal with it. And don't ask what happened to being a gentleman because you are definitely _not _a a lady."

Everything about Damon was pissing her off, from his smug smile, to the impenetrable boundaries of his cerulean gaze, to the way his body rippled from beneath his shirt, to the careless way he propped his feet up on the table as if he owned the place. Or turning her on. She wasn't sure which and that was egging her on to the brink of insanity. "I'm going first." She snarled, "I need to wash this day off of me." The brunette vampire grumbled mostly to herself, regretting this whole trip in the first place, not sparing another glance at him as she pushed open the bathroom door, barely shutting it before she had the water going at the hottest possible temperature.

She sighed in rapture, disgusted of course, by the motel bathroom, but sated by the steam as she took her clothes off and breathed, attempting to regain clarity. Once the water had reached maximum heat potential she clambered in slowly, breathing in a sweet sigh of relief once the cascade of water fell onto her tense muscles, she gave herself away to her thoughts, tuning out Damon and all else, though the arousal still clung to her. She felt his hands creep around her midriff, the sweet sensual desire coursing through her veins, unbidden and longing to be released, her hands scoping his backside, urging his flesh to singe hers, mouths agape, breathing blurred as she turned to him, unwilling to kiss, enjoying how he was mapping out each apex of her curves, "Damon…" A silent sigh eclipsed her lips, only heard because his lips were at her neck, marking her collar.

Reality smacked her in the face, placement of her hand, the warmth it had sought between her thighs sent a further rivulet of shame through her and she stopped instantly, pissed as hell at her small fantasy and the way he still got to her.

She did _not_ want Damon Salvatore under her skin. But it seemed as if he already was.


	5. Chapter 5

Damon drummed his fingers against the table as his eyes flicked from the door of the bathroom back to the bed, the tension coiling and uncoiling in his chest setting his teeth on edge as a constant white noise of idle thoughts buzzed in the back of his mind. Was it him, or did Katherine seem… more tightly wound than usual? Shooting him glares and vicious scowls, prowling like some kind of deadly predator after her prey as she stalked off into the bathroom… though the idea that Damon _knew _what kind of person Katherine was usually was pretty laughable. There was a very high chance this was all part of her game, anyway, a new trick to twist his mind the way she wanted, to lead him on a wild chase with no end. Just like she always did, he mused, clenching his jaw. Even in her absence Katherine could provoke anger and frustration, bewilderment darting through his eyes and desperation as he tried not to care. As if Damon would ever know what passed through that mind of hers, what kind of evil machinations and dastardly ploys she was plotting even now to spin him into another web of lies. Not this time, though. No. And the bet was the one way do it. This one last play for freedom from her eternal trickery, one last shot in which he'd give it all before it was all over for good.

A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he slumped back against his chair, biting down on his lip with a scowl distorting his handsome features. Straightening in one fluid moment as he thought back to their little killing spree back in that old bar, he kicked off his shoes with an exasperated grunt. If she was going to toy with him then so would he; it was _his _turn to level the playing field now. She had made her move and now he was going to make his. Stripping off his clothes was a fast process, slim fingers tugging at his buttons and unzipping his pants as he stepped over towards the bathroom, breaking the handle in a bout of raw strength. And just as he was about to pull aside the curtain, the sound of his name, torn form her lips like a strangled prayer made him freeze. His lips parted in blatant shock, eyes widening with a flash of surprise brightening them in the low light of the bathroom. The smell of her arousal was unmistakable, sweet and tinged with spice, unchanging even over the centuries since he had taken her all those years ago.

Katherine's fingers slid slippery and wet through her sex, tugging at her folds and pumping two digits deep into her canal, pleasing herself and arching into the apex of tenderness when she heard a slight sound. She stopped immediately, unsure of what the bristle was, but upon hearing nothing she stemmed herself by placing a palm flat on the wall and rubbing her throbbing button faster, and then she heard his voice.

Prying open the glazed glass door slowly with his fingers, he leaned towards her, a lascivious look of triumphant glee on his face. "_Katherine,_" he crooned, lips curving in delight at having found her pleasuring herself, of all places, in the bathroom of this tacky motel. "Damon.." She choked it out, hoarse with desirous lust as Damon slid into the small shower, steam unfurling between them and his body glistening divinely in front of her. Her eyes slid from his face to his feet, lingering on every aspect of his perfect Adonis form. She gulped audibly the touch on her cheek fire on her flesh. "Damon…" A sweet siren call for him to ravish her, all pretense of games lost in the moment and instead just igniting a single furious wish that the two of them shared.

Stepping forward over the edge of the threshold, smirk widening as her eyes flew open to drink him in in all of his naked entirety, he brushed the back of his finger along her wet cheek. "Seems like your little wet dream has turned into a reality." The taste of his mouth, his skin, his saliva mixing with her own making her body quiver, she was aching for Damon, aching to be touched, her hands sought his skin, pulling his flesh tight as she wrapped her body around him. "I want you."_ I need you_. The burning was too deep for simple want, but she feared voicing the words unbidden and laced in the lie. His palms found the sides of her face, moulding to her jaw as he drew her towards him for a burning kiss, attacking her with repressed ferocity and hunger that he had been waiting to unleash since she had sunk her fangs into his neck. One of his hands smoothed along the side of her chest, curving around her waist and pulling her up from the water, wrapping her thigh around him as he thrust his tongue into her mouth. Her body was malleable and soft, wet flesh pressing against his skin, water trailing down her legs onto his.

Speech begotten as he picked her up, back arching and slamming dangerously into the slick tile of the shower. Her blood searing and flooding her veins their wet muscle fought for dominance within the confines of their mouths. Open, wanting, and hot, her kisses were furious, feverish, scroching and dangerously heated. She wanted to swallow him, his moans emoted out in her throat, her body agile and pliant to his every need. Yet she struck back against him, the fire of her own self fighting back against the Damon, the hatefire still blazing somewhere deep in her core. Coiled tight it begged to unleashed, in the form of heady bites and violent licks and thrusts. Her sex was open and pressing against Damon's turgid tip as he teased her. Hising in his ear and rubbing herself against him more vigilantly clamoring for attention, for release. Her nails sunk into the flesh of his backside, urging him forward as he finally pushed himself deep inside her tight baked core. Her body echoed her thoughts trembling with the wait that he'd forced her into, he filled her. He filled her warm, so perfectly snug inside her center that she wanted him there forever. She wanted the feeling of their connection, the missing puzzle piece she'd never wanted to admit she needed. She'd feigned her taste or him for so long that diving in and letting herself have him was the equivalent of unraveling.

The spray of the water fell in torrents down his back as he slammed her up against the slick tiled wall, scalding heat searing his skin as it cascaded to the floor. Gliding his fingers down between her breasts and across her naval, he drew his fingers over her slit, fingers soaked from both the water and her own arousal. Pressing forwards again, his tongue licking into hers, desperate to have the taste of her on his lips as he teased against her clit, brushing against it with the lightest of pressure. Withdrawing his fingers to tighten around her waist again, he felt his thighs tighten around his waist, legs curling around his back as she bucked against him in frustration. He met her hips with his own, thrusting forwards but not quite entering her as he mouthed along her jaw, the water now fully soaked through his hair, trickling down his skin in burning rivulets of water. His hands tightened around her waist as he gripped at her, sucking along her neck hungrily, worshipping across ever inch of her throat as he tortured her with shallow thrusts of his hips.

Damon Salvatore was unraveling her from top to bottom. Start to finish he was uncoiling all that she had buried and laying her out bare. She was an open book in the most lustful height of their intimacy. Their fucking reaching such a height and apex that he could, for all intents and purposes see inside her soul and take her apart piece by piece. But with every thrust, her hips bucking just as voraciously back against his own, she flet more as if he was piecing her back together. Her thrum of life and vivacity dwindling and Damon refilling her. Over and over. He plagued her body and , invading her, his pieces making her with and writhe. Heady moans and deep, breathless sighs, she was mewling, a cat in heat aching and crying out for the sweet rhapsody of release. "Please…" Her begged, clamping tightly to him, digging nails and teeth into the sensitive spots f him as she clenched her vaginal muscle around every slow inch of his thick long girth, sliding in and out of her confines, she was losing it, her edge near, he pushed over it without another thought Unable to catch her breath she lapsed into a monumental collision of taste and such a heightened sense of vibration her cries echoed all around him, his name was poison on her lips, her undoing as her coming became simultaneous with the male vampire's own.

And then his hips were surging forwards with savage force, the tiles cracking beneath their collective weight as the brutal strength of his thrust drove him entirely into her depths. The vice-like grip around him, the heat and the unbelievable wetness made him groan out in abandon, clutching at her hips with bruising fingers. He tensed, letting her adjust for only a moment before he was withdrawing his hips, sliding out of her only to snap his hips back against hers, pumping into her with powerful thrusts. The sounds that filtered from his lips and hers, strangled by their desire and desperate need increased the pace until his movements were merely a blur, pounding into her with relentless vigour. His fingertips skidded along her wet flesh as he sank them between her folds, pressing against her clit, squeezing against it with intent to make her explode.

As his rhythm began to falter into sloppier, more erratic thrusts, he hitched her hips up higher, drawing one of her thighs over his shoulder, the sudden change in angle pulling a long, drawn-out groan from him. And as he felt her shudder around him, plunging into her one last time until she tipped over the precipice, her legs spasmed and tightened their grip around his waist in a desperate to bid to hold on. Exploding within her with her name on his lips a mixture of a prayer and a curse, he arched his back against her body, ecstasy igniting in him like wildfire. Her walls clenching around him with furious intensity had his breath coming in shaky pants as he filled her with his essence, his head dropping against the tiled wall beside her head. Riding out the last waves of their orgasms with light thrusts, he waited until the last of her spasms finished before allowing her legs to drop from around his waist. His length slipped out of her, softened after his release and he stepped back, giving her a single blazing look of indiscernible emotion.

He was the toxin in her veins, eradicating any sense of rhyme or reason, she felt as if she ceased to exist and was only breathing for him. She was swallowing his sighs and the quiet ones of his immense pleasure, licking and savoring the sweetness of his mouth, wanting to cling to the scent of him. She wanted him to linger on her skin. And then it was over. Turning on his heel, he stepped out of the stall, grabbing the nearest towel and unceremoniously wrapping it around his waist. A moment ended, their lower exteriors seperating as if nothing had happened, and as Damon left her standing there, Katherine sank down to the floor of the shower.

She wasn't sure for how long she remained there, so still, as if her stillness alone could save herself and change her pattern of thinking, she was just awash in the silence and the deafening sound of emotion. She wasn't sure how much alter it was when she extricated herself. An hour. A moment. A night. She toweled off, taking her time in brushing out each strand of hair, with extraordinary caution, as if one broke would make her collapse. Her features bland and ambiguous.

Slipping on a clean change of clothes for the night, Damon took his side on the bed, flinging back the covers and sliding in. He didn't wait for Katherine to exit the bathroom, didn't wait for him to storm in and strike up an argument and didn't wait for her as he closed his eyes, head laid against the pillow. Despite the fact that their little escapade in the shower had purely been to regain the upper hand, somehow he didn't feel like a victor at all. The sex had drained him, exhaustion setting into his bones and the feeling of power that had burned through his veins had almost faded. How did he win a game that he hadn't even begun to know how to play? Was it an entirely hopeless endeavour that he might as well give up while he was still ahead? These, as well as thousand more questions plagued his mind, flitting in and out of consciousness as each new thought brought with it a host of more nagging questions, tearing at his sanity with unwavering patience.

She dressed in something casual and slinked into bed. The exhaustion piquing and marking both of them. They'd battled in the shower, Damon was attempting to claim her, and yet she felt as if neither was the victor Both of them were searching for some answer within the other and neither had reached it. Her thoughts eventually turned into slumber, a whirlwind of ceaseless cognitive emotion chasing one another in her mind until she finally drifted off.

At last, when the gentle pressure of the bed sinking on Katherine's side of the bed, shook him from his thoughts, Damon felt his shoulders relax against the bed and he drifted off to dreamless sleep.

Awaking the next morning, the son bright, iridescent orange radiating into the room, searing her eyelids as she opened her eyes, though she was in an entirely different position than what she' drifted to sleep in. She was staring at Damon's chest. His bare chest, her hands were pressed against it, and Damon's arms were wrapped tenderly around her body. His chin rested on top of her head, and she was nuzzled comfortably into the apex of his jaw. She went rigid, unsure of whether or not she should move. She was sure he hadn't seen, or he would have reacted the same way she was now. Innate fear, trepidation, and in the deep pit of her mind, she was so very very comfortable. She didn't want to move, but she didn't want to admit to it.

Making herself grimace, as if the situation disgusted her, she pulled herself out slowly, untangling their limbs (somehow her leg had ended up tucked cozily between his) she left the solace they'd created together and got out of bed. Licking her lips, she straightened herself out before setting about getting dressed, hoping Damon wouldn't stir quite yet.


End file.
